Bracknell Bees could not be in better shape as they prepare to take on arch rivals Swindon Wildcats in the semi-finals of the South 1 play-offs this coming weekend.

They go into the two-legged tie on a high following their 6-3 aggregate victory over Raiders, drawing 1-1 in Romford last Saturday before winning the return 4-2 the following evening.

Doug Sheppard's men were particularly impressive at The Hive, dominating virtually the whole game with an extremely polished performance that reached a pinnacle midway through the second period when they scored three goals in quick succession.

The visitors did halve their deficit shortly before the second break, however at no time during the 60 minutes did the final outcome look in any doubt.

Bees could easily have won by a wider margin, but a combination of inaccurate shooting and brilliant saves from Raiders goalie Michael Gray kept the score down.

Gray had enjoyed an even better night on his home ice, keeping out but one of Bees' 41 attempts on goal. The only time he was beaten came in the 49th minute when Shaun Thompson fired home from a chance created by Ed Knaggs and Harvey Stead, the goal cancelling out Aaron Connolly's fourth-minute opener for Romford.

Well pleased with the draw, Bees went into the return leg clearly determined to take control and within 30 seconds of the first drop of the puck, they were swarming around the Raiders goal.

And it did not take long for the pressure to pay off with Roman Malinik opening the scoring after six minutes with Aidan Doughty and Brendan Baird providing the assists.

Bracknell continued to control the game, but were guilty of squandering scoring chances until midway through the game when they netted three times in quick succession.

Stuart Mogg doubled his side's lead at 29:14 when Bees were on power-play and the clock ticked on for just another 32 seconds before Stead added his name to the scoresheet.

And it got evening better for the hosts at 31:46 when Scott Spearing made it 4-0 after being teed up by Zach Milton.

It was looking so easy for Bees that they appeared to take their foot off the pedal and that allowed Raiders to trimmed their deficit with two-taken goals from Juraj Huska on 36:10 and Jake Sylvester on 37:37, a thrill-packed period ending with both keepers making fine saves.

Dean Skinns continued to keep Romford at bay, while seeing his side produce some precision passing moves, one of which was finished off by Tyler Vankleef when they were on the power play in the 50th minute.

If Bracknell can play as well as they on Sunday, whilst remaining as disciplined, then they will certainly have a chance of upsetting the odds against Swindon.

The league winners waltzed through their quarter-final tie against bottom club Invicta Dynamos, winning 11-1 at home and 13-4 away.

The first leg takes place at The Hive on Saturday (6pm face-off) with the return at the Link Centre on Sunday (4.15pm).

Forward Josh Martin, who has been sidelined through injury, will face a fitness check before knowing if he can return to the side.